Betterman EP12 - Dragon

Though it's set to part ways with Mode Warp, the Akamatsu Industries team still can't make contact with Miyako, so it'll have to stick around a little while longer. Escorted by a special-forces team provided by Mode Warp, the Akamatsu Industries team heads for Dr. Umezaki's laboratory: Asami's last known destination.

On the way to the lab, what appears to be a dragon attacks the Mode Warp aircraft, killing everyone onboard, including the two replacement head divers. The dragon, actually a mass of insects, then turns its attention toward the Akamatsu Industries vessel, forcing it down in the wetlands surrounding the laboratory.

Luckily, most of the team seems to have survived. Kaede, Sakura, Keita, and Hinoki climb aboard the two neuronoids while Akamatsu, Li-Chan, and Yamajii huddle tightly around the device that helped kill the worms back at headquarters. Yanagi, however, is still unaccounted for, and the search for him is interrupted by a massive swarm of insects.

Meanwhile, Asami awakens to find herself imprisoned by Dr. Umezaki, who turns out to be the mastermind behind the creatures disrupting the search for Algernon. She doesn't know why he has strayed so far from his original research -- developing new food sources -- but she does discover that her friends will soon die, and that she'll soon become a mindless drone forced to obey the evil doctor's every command.